The Complete Guide to Successful Business Blogging – Pt. #3

We have created a website/blog that looks professional and highlights your personal brand. We have also fixed all the leaks on the site so we don’t lose readers. We have created the perfect opt-in offer for your ideal reader. And we have successfully managed to get them on your email list. So what’s next? What do you do next?

.

This is part three of ‘The complete guide to successful business blogging’ series. Read the first two parts hereand here.

Let’s revisit the 7 step process for creating a bog that wins you tons of business.

Step 5: Find new peeps through strategic promotion, writing on your blog is not enough.

Step 6: Make offers via email. Keep your email list warm.

Step 7: Fix your pages that convert and sell.

In this post we are going to have a look at steps 4 and 5.

Step 4: Create your content strategy.

We have pinpointed your ideal client and customer. Well, you need to make sure you get the attention of many more peeps like this. And you do this by publishing high quality content on your blog. I wrote a post earlier called 20 Quick Content Marketing Tips Every Blogger Should Know. Check it out and you are bound to get super useful ideas on how to create and publish relevant content on your blog.

For now, I want to revisit the basics – I want to talk about how to create an effective editorial calendar so that you never run out of ideas to write about. Before we dive into concepts like purpose driven content, cornerstone content and pre-selling with content, I want to bust the biggest myth of content creation.

.

“You have got to post every day.” (Myth)

No, you don’t. Unless you are a company with a team of content creators. If you are a solopreneur, you don’t have to publish every day. You can even post every fortnight if you simply can’t find the time. I highly recommend once a week.

You’ve got to pick a schedule that works for you. You need to become consistent – consistency in the day you publish as well as the consistency of quality. Once you have decided on the frequency, it becomes relatively easy to create a very simple content strategy for your blog that you can stick to.

Here are my hottest tips:

Understand that anything you publish on your blog needs to have a purpose. It should appeal to your ideal reader and keep you top of mind.

Brainstorm a list of 30-40 blog post ideas. Remember, these are just ideas and not headlines. Then choose 24 ideas that you are most excited about. Voila! You have created a 6 month editorial calendar.

Create some cornerstone content – meaning content that educates people around the need for your products and services. Explain why your business exists. Feature this content by creating a resource box for each topic and display it on your sidebar.

Create some link-bait content. Interview leading experts in your industry. Create a super long list post. Reach out and see if they share it for you.

Create personal content where you give them a peek into what goes behind the scenes and share stories of how you get over obstacles in your business and achieve success. Readers love that.

Engage with your audience by giving them guidance, confidence and action steps they can implement today to get closer to their goals. Make them feel heard and you are gold.

Publish content that slowly moves your reader up through the sales funnel, also known as pre-selling with content.

Don’t publish a ton of content. You will only overwhelm them.

When you publish content with strategic purpose in mind, you appeal to your ideal reader like no other.

.

By publishing high quality content consistently, you reap many rewards.

People stay interested in what you have to say.

You drive traffic to your site.

People view you as an authority. It builds your credibility.

You form genuine relationships with other bloggers.

You create a community.

You may enjoy better search engine rankings.

Readers turn into buyers.

So how do you find new people to read all this fresh content on your blog?

The next step will answer this question for you.

.

Step 5: Find new peeps through strategic promotion.

Always remember the rule of 80/20 in mind when you are creating content. Spend 20% of your time creating content and the rest in promoting it. This is especially true when you are new.

Think about it – you don’t have many readers, yet. Every time you write something, only a handful of people actually read it. Does it mean that you should create even more content?

Heck, no!

You need to get more people to read your content and not create more. The best way to do this is through guest posting. For every post you write on your own blog, aim to publish 3-4 guest posts on other sites.

Here are some guest posting tips that are bound to make your life easier.

Always do your homework and read their guest posting guidelines before you write a pitch.

Look for blogs with decent sized audiences and high reader engagement.

In the subject line, say you are pitching an idea for the guest post. Guest post for _________ : Your idea.

Address the blogger by their name.

Introduce yourself briefly.

Go through their popular posts to get a feel for what works for their audience.

Pitch an idea with a fresh angle or a unique twist.

Offer to send in a ‘draft’ showing that you are open to making changes in the body of the post or the headline itself.

Link to your best work, preferably published on other sites.

Tell them you will follow up in about 10 days and be cordial.

Once your pitch is accepted, do your best work, proofread and send as an html file as well. Make it easy for them.

Write a byline and link to your freebie offer. This will get people to check out your blog and sign up to your list.

Guest posting works really, really well when done right. Especially if you choose the right topic which overlaps the topic on their site and yours, you get the maximum ROI for your efforts.

.

Promote your content on social media, multiple times.

Think of it in this way, your followers are not online all the time. They don’t get to see all of your updates and even if they happen to see one more than once, they are not going to mind.

Post your content on the social media site that you are most active on so that you can engage with your followers. Once you have built a decent presence on one platform, move on to the next.

Have you got a content strategy in place for your blog? How often do you publish or do you put so much pressure on yourself that you end up not publishing at all? How many times do you share your content on social media? What is your most favorite social media platform? What are you doing to get engagement?